Monkey Beach

Five hundred miles north of Vancouver is Kitamaat an Indian reservation in the homeland of the Haisla people Growing up a tough wild tomboy swimming fighting and fishing in a remote village where the land slips into the green ocean on the edge of the world Lisamarie has always been different Visited by ghosts and shapeshifters tormented by premonitions she cant escape the sense that something terrible is waiting for her She recounts her enchanted yet scarred life as she journeys in her speedboat up the frigid waters of the Douglas Channel She is searching for her brother dead by drowning and in her own way running as fast as she can toward danger Circling her brothers tragic death are the remarkable characters that make up her family Lisamaries parents struggling to join their Haisla heritage with Western ways Uncle Mick a Native rights activist and devoted Elvis fan and the headstrong Mamaoo Haisla for grandmother a guardian of tradition